2016-2017 Vermont Mentoring Grant Recipients

Through the 2016-2017 Vermont Mentoring Grants funding cycle, Mobius has awarded 33 grants, totaling more than $324,000, to support adult-to-youth mentoring programs throughout the state. This funding will support 101 new and existing program sites and more than 1,800 adult-to-youth mentor pairs in communities across Vermont.

These grants were made through funding support from The Permanent Fund for Vermont’s Children, the A.D. Henderson Foundation, and the Vermont Department for Children and Families. The criteria for this year’s granting process was determined collectively by our funding partners, Mobius staff and board, and the Program Leadership Council.

Grant Award Recipients

New Program Planning Grants
Mentoring Agency	Program	Program Type	# of Matches	Award Amount
Youth Development Program	TBD	TBD	N/A	$4,000
Laraway Youth and Family Services	TBD	TBD	N/A	$4,000
Randolph Area Opiate Response	TBD	TBD	N/A	$4,000
Safer Society Foundation	ChIPs Mentoring & Circles of Support	TBD	N/A	$4,000
First-Year Implementation Grants
Mentoring Agency	Program	Program Type	# of Matches	Award Amount
Connecting Youth in Chittenden South	Connecting Youth Mentoring (new site at Champlain Valley Union)	Community-based	10	$9,000
Play in the Wild	Play in the Wild	Community-based	12	$10,000
South Burlington School District	SB Mentoring (High School Program)	School-based	N/A	See Continuing Support Grants
Second-Year Implementation Grants
Mentoring Agency	Program	Program Type	# of Matches	Award Amount
VSA Vermont	High School Mentoring Program	Community and School-based	8	$9,000
Continuing Support Grants
Mentoring Agency	Program	Program Type	# of Matches	Award Amount
Addison Northeast Supervisory Union	Beeman Elementary Mentoring Program	School-based	35	$4,300^
Addison Northeast Supervisory Union	Lincoln Mentors	Community and School-based	15	$2,800^
Addison Northeast Supervisory Union	Monkton Mentors	Community and School-based	10	$2,200
Addison Northeast Supervisory Union	Mt. Abraham Union High School Mentoring Program	Community and School-based	15	$4,900^
Addison Northeast Supervisory Union	Starksboro Mentoring Program	Community and School-based	28	$6,800^
Cabot Connects Mentoring	Cabot Connects Mentoring	Community-based	17	$5,100#^
Connecting Youth in Chittenden South	Connecting Youth Mentoring	School-based	146	$19,100
The DREAM Program	The DREAM Program	Community-based	260	$21,300^
Essex CHIPS	Essex FriendCHIPS	School-based	22	$4,300^
Everybody Wins! Vermont	Everybody Wins! Vermont	School-based	550	$41,800
Franklin County Caring Communities	Friends for Lunch, Royal Lunch Bunch, and Watershed Mentoring	Community and School-based	30	$6,700^
Grand Isle Community Services	Grand Isle County Mentoring Program	School-based	42	$8,500^
King Street Center	Junior Senior Buddies	Community-based	63	$10,900
The Mentor Connector	See What 2 Can Do	Community-based	95	$23,000^
The Mentoring Project of the Upper Valley	The Mentoring Project of the Upper Valley	Community-based	12	$4,200^
Milton Community Youth Coalition	Milton Mentors!	Community-based	18	$5,400^
Northeast Kingdom Youth Services	JUMP Mentoring	School-based	20	$4,700^
Ottauquechee Community Partnership	Mentor and Buddy Program	Community and School-based	20	$4,100
South Burlington School District	SB Mentoring	School-based	59	$7,900
Spectrum Youth & Family Services	Spectrum Mentoring Program	Community-based	80	$13,600^
Twinfield Together Mentoring Program	Twinfield Together Mentoring Program	Community and School-based	41	$12,600^
United Counseling Service	Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bennington County	Community and School-Based	54	$11,700^
Washington Central Friends of Education	Girls/Boyz First Mentoring	Community-based	38	$12,500^
Windsor County Partners	Let’s Do Lunch, and Partners Always Lend Support	Community and School-based	42	$10,600
Youth Services of Windham County	Big Brothers Big Sisters of Windham County	Community and School-based	80	$9,900
Community Friends	Howard Center	Community-based	60	$9,300
Received Scholarships to Attend National Mentoring Summit
Mentoring Agency		Scholarship Amount
Connecting Youth in Chittenden South		$1,000
King Street Center		$1,250
The Mentor Connector		$1,250
Windsor County Partners		$1,250

Key:

# = Portion of grant funding is contingent on meeting specified grant goals by December 31, 2016
^ = Will receive additional funding (not reflected in total) for committing to using full Vermont Mentoring Surveys
(in total, $3,925 will be granted to programs if they use the full surveys)

Total Funding Awarded Or Pledged: $324,675
Funding Still Available for 2016-2017: $28,230 (this funding will carry over to the FY 2017-2018 VT Mentoring Grant Cycle)

 

These Grants Were Designed to Fund…

• A planning process by a committed agency or group of diverse community members for the purpose of creating a quality mentoring program in an under-served area of Vermont.
• A planning process by an established agency or program for the purpose of expanding its service area to include new program sites or youth populations.
• The first-year implementation of new adult-to-youth mentoring programs.
• The growth of new adult-to-youth mentoring programs in their second year of implementation.
• Continuing support for established adult-to-youth mentoring programs that are:
  • Meeting nationally-recognized best practices and have successfully completed the Quality Mentoring System process.
  • Participating in Mobius’ K-12 Mentoring Initiative by collaborating with other programs to support mentoring matches having the opportunity to continue meeting through the mentee’s high school graduation.
  • Collecting youth outcome data using common questions from the Vermont Mentoring Surveys in the following key areas: resiliency; pro-social skills; future aspirations; connectedness to community; and attitude toward school.

Criteria for Determining Grant Awards

The grant committee considered the following criteria when making grant award decisions:

• The quality of program practices: for established programs, having successfully completed the Quality Mentoring System process.
• Geographic location of program, and availability of other funding resources in the region.
• The sustainability of the mentoring program: the diversity of revenue sources, costs per match in alignment with Vermont costs for new and established programs (program type was taken into consideration), and overall financial stability of the program and/or agency.
• The diversity and level of engagement by the program’s advisory committee.
• Participation in collaborative statewide initiatives and conversations.
• Use of a quality program management system that tracks priority outcomes (use of the Vermont Mentoring Database is not required).
• Collaborative vision of creating mentor matches that last through high school graduation, through participation in Mobius’ K-12 Mentoring Initiative with other programs in their area.
• Tracking and sharing of priority data on program and youth outcomes.
• Efficient and effective use of resources.
• Achievement of past grant outcomes.

For full grant guidelines, please visit the Vermont Mentoring Grants page.

Funding Amounts

• New Program Planning: $1,000-$4,000
• First-Year Implementation: $10,000 max per program site
• Second-Year Implementation: Typically half of first-year grant award
• Continuing Support Grants: No limits (but must fall within suggested funding per match range as outlined in the grant guidelines)
• Additional Funding:
  • Professional Development
    Outside of the program funding process, mentoring agencies were eligible to request a $1,250 scholarship to support a program staff member attending the National Mentoring Summit. Mobius was able to award four of these scholarships for FY 16-17.
  • Full Adoption of the Vermont Mentoring Surveys
    Outside of the program funding process, agencies who committed to their programs administering all of the questions from the Vermont Mentoring Surveys to their mentors and mentees will receive additional funding of $5 per match, with a minimum award of $100 and a maximum award of $1,000.

Grant Committee Members

Nate Formalarie, Cabot Creamery Cooperative/Mobius Board
Eddie Gale, A.D. Henderson Foundation
Hillary Orsini, Marlboro College Center for New Leadership
C. Fagan Hart, Vermont Children’s Trust Foundation
Dana Lawrence, Vermont Department for Children and Families

For information about previous Vermont Mentoring Grant funding cycles and grant awards, visit the Vermont Mentoring Grants page.